The COVID-19 pandemic in between climate change and the Philippine rice supply chain

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College

College of Liberal Arts

Department/Unit

International Studies

Document Type

Conference Proceeding

Volume

DLSU Research Congress 2021

Publication Date

2021

Abstract

Climate change is the dominant environmental issue of our time with the United Nations listing Climate Action as its 13th Sustainable Development Goal. Climatic variables have an inseparable link to agriculture, but abiotic stresses like climate change threaten Southeast Asia’s agricultural sector. The sub-region’s agro- system, particularly the rice sector, is one of the most vulnerable to changing global temperatures. Rice is the most important food crop of the world’s population and the dominant crop in the sub-region. This places the Philippines in a precarious position considering that it is one of the biggest rice importers in the world as shown by its low total factor productivity and negative trade balance. With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines on January 2020 and the imposition of a Luzon-wide lockdown in March of the same year, the food availability in the rice commodity was disrupted. This is most especially felt in the National Capital Region (NCR) which is acknowledged to have experienced the worst health impact of the pandemic and supply chain disruptions with reference to food demand and consumption. Using secondary research and semi-structured interview as methodologies, the study analyses the COVID-19 pandemic’s reinforcement of the rice sector’s struggle in adapting to climate change’s pre-existing challenges. It argues that despite the disruption, the pandemic did not cause shortage in the supply of rice.

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Disciplines

Agricultural and Resource Economics

Keywords

Food security—Climatic factors—Philippines; Rice trade—Philippines; COVID-19 Pandemic, 2020-2023—Philippines—Influence

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